(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

My previous post focused on the ancient sites of Orkney.  However, Orkney wasn’t just a big deal 5000 years ago.  It continued to be an important place for a very long time…so important that the Vikings controlled it for hundreds of years and left more than a trace of their culture.

The Viking presence is felt most in the “capital” of Kirkwall.  It’s the largest “city”, but still is home to only about 9,200 people.  For a city of that size, it certainly has its share of disproportionately large buildings. The most epic is St. Magnus Cathedral, which is built from red and yellow sandstone and dates back to the year 1137.  It’s very dark and drafty inside, with plenty of morbid gravestones (featuring lots of skulls, crossbones, and hourglasses) to remind us of our mortality.

Right beside St. Magnus Cathedral are the ruins of the Earl’s Palace and the Bishop’s Palace.  The Bishop’s Palace was built in the 12th century to house the bishop of the Norwegian Catholic Church.  The Earl’s Palace was built in 1607, because the then-Earl of Orkney thought that the Bishop’s Palace was inadequate for his needs.

In a bizarre example of foreshadowing, I was intrigued enough by the bowling green behind the Earl’s Palace to take a picture of it (it’s the one at the very top of this post).  Little did I know that, 15 years later, lawn bowling would actually become part of my life.  Any future trip to Scotland will definitely include a bowling green visit – what an atmospheric place to play!

The “second city” of Orkney is Stromness, with a population of just 2,200 people.  However, it was worth a visit because one of my wife’s ancestors sailed from here hundreds of years ago en route to a new life in Canada with the Hudson’s Bay Company.  We found the well where such sailors took on fresh water before heading across the sea.  In addition to the Hudson’s Bay Company ships, Captain Cook’s vessels and John Franklin’s ships (in search of the fabled Northwest Passage) also took on water here.

While in Orkney, we also took the opportunity to visit one of the more sparsely populated (relatively speaking) islands.  Shapinsay is home to only 300 people and is about a 25-minute ferry ride from the Orkney “Mainland”.  There isn’t much for the restless tourist on quiet Shapinsay, which is known primarily for agriculture and birds, but there is a spectacular castle (Balfour Castle) that is now run as a hotel.

Other sights in Orkney include the Highland Park Distillery, which is the northernmost whisky (as the Scots spell it) distillery in the world.  We didn’t go on the tour, as it seemed rather expensive at the time.  Alas, we didn’t realize that Highland Park is actually a very special whisky;  apparently, it is the only whisky to ever receive a rating of 100% from the tasting team at The Scotsman newspaper.

Orkney is a small and remote place, but it far exceeded our expectations.  It’s yet another place that we’d love to visit again!

(Kingston, Ontario, Canada)

One of our favourite trips was our 2002 journey to Scotland…especially if you ignore my severe allergy attack in Inverness and the food poisoning I suffered in Glasgow!  We loved the regal city of Edinburgh, but the most enjoyable part of our trip was our 5-day stay in Orkney, off the remote northern coast of Scotland.

Orkney is fascinating.  It is largely treeless and it also has a rich Viking history.  But our favourite parts were the ancient (many of them older than the Pyramids!) structures at sites such as Skara Brae, Maeshowe, and Broch of Gurness.  To say nothing of the various standing stones…in terms of atmosphere and access, these put Stonehenge to shame!

The Maeshowe burial tomb was not just a mound…you could go inside and look at runic graffiti (30 examples, written by Vikings nearly 1000 years ago)!  The tomb was already 4000 years old by then.  The tomb was also precisely constructed for light to shine in on the winter solstice each year.

If you’ve ever wondered what is so fascinating about standing stones…stand next to one!  They are huge.  Trying to figure out details such as “why” and “how” could occupy you for an entire lifetime.  There are 27 stones still standing at the Ring of Brodgar, a circular Neolithic “henge” very close to Maeshowe on a windswept plain.  Only 1 km away, the Standing Stones of Stenness are also impressive, with one of the stones reaching a height of 18 feet.

The number of ancient sites on Orkney’s “Mainland” is almost overwhelming.  The Broch of Gurness would be a major attraction all on its own, but it is just one of many on this compact island.  This Iron Age settlement dates from “only” about 500 B.C.  See the photo at the top of this post for more of the Broch of Gurness.

Also found on Orkney’s “Mainland” is Skara Brae, the most complete Neolithic village in Europe.  Although constructed 5000 years ago, it was unknown for millennia until a severe storm in 1850 ripped away the soil and exposed a series of stone buildings without roofs.  You can now wander around, and look down on, the homes which have miraculously survived all these years.  In some cases, there are even stone “furnishings”.

Stay tuned for further pictures and stories from Orkney (and Scotland).  There is plenty more to share!  While I highly recommend visiting Orkney, you should be aware that it is not the warmest destination.  The pictures in this post were all taken in the middle of the summer:  we needed a jacket every day.  Given Orkney’s location in the North Sea, and the lack of trees, it can also be very windy.